| The properties, applications and preparation of antimony-doped tin oxide(ATO) thin films are reviewed on the basis of studying lots of literature at home and abroad. ATO have a range of technical applications as conductive coating, and sol-gel processing seems to offer a number of advantages over other coating techniques. In this paper, sol-gel dip coating method is determined to prepare SnO2 thin films.Using metal salts SnCl2·H2O and SbCl3 as precursors, thin films of antimony-doped tin oxide with good microstructure and electrical properties have been deposited by the sol-gel dip coating method. It has been found that the heat-treatment temperature, film thickness and doping level have strong influence on the microstructure and composition of SnO2 films. The optimum heat-treatment temperature is about 500°C～550°C, and higher temperature and thicker film can benefit the crystallization of SnO2 crystals. But too high thickness and doping level will do harm to the smoothness of film surface with doped impurity deteriorating the crystallization. The SnO2 crystals exist mainly as tetragonal rutile structure, despite of some rhombic SnO crystals.The electrical behaviours of Sb-doped SnO2 thin films derived by sol-gel process have been investigated. It shows that SnO2 film with suitable doping level (～10at%) has favorable electrical conductivity. The sheet resistance can reach 150Ω/□, after the thin films have been treated under 500°C, with Sb doping level 10at%,dipping 5 times.Based on these above, the problems of optimum doping content for antimony-doped tin oxide thin films are discussed. The model has been set up and the theoretical expression is given, the doping content is obtained.
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